The ability of a craftsperson to form fine joinery is often the true measure of the person's woodworking skill. Poorly fitting joints may detract from a project's aesthetics and functionality, especially for fine cabinetry. Proper fit and assembly often require a high level of skill or a large time commitment on behalf of a novice woodworker. To aid in the process, a woodworker will often employ a jig or form to assist in proper joint formation. Prior jigs tend to be complex to set-up, making it difficult to understand how adjustments impact the finished workpiece. Prior jigs often lack efficient methods for reestablishing settings used in forming commonly made joinery, such as dovetails, box joints, and mortise and tenon joints. Rather than attempting to use a complex or non-intuitive jig, novice woodworkers may avoid forming fine joints, instead selecting a simpler joint such as a butt joint. Expert woodworkers may become frustrated with the set-up time required for the jig device.
Typical jig devices may lack the ability to form a wide variety of joints. As a result, a woodworker may need multiple devices. For example, a user may own one jig for making dovetail joints used in drawers and cabinets and an entirely separate jig for forming the mortise and tenon joints needed to assemble a table leg and rail. In addition to the expense, these devices may consume valuable workshop space.
While some devices permit the formation of multiple joint types, such as through dovetails, half-blind dovetails and box joints, the user may be forced to accept a lower quality joints due to difficulty or error in set-up. The user may also be required to spend non-productive time conducting test cuts to ensure the desired fit. For example, in a half-blind dovetail, if a router bit does not extend the correct distance into a workpiece, the resulting joint may be too loose or too tight. Other joints face similar issues that affect the fit and finish of the joint and the overall quality of the finished product.
Prior jigs do not offer convenient workpiece positioning and securing. For example, when forming half-blind dovetails in a single pass (when both the pins and tails are formed in a single operation), the workpieces are offset from each other along the length of the joint. The offset accounts for the spacing between pins/tails so that the workpieces correctly align in the finished joint. Prior jigs may not have a convenient way to accurately provide this offset.
Once properly positioned, a workpiece must be firmly secured to prevent inadvertent movement during a shaping or cutting operation. Clamps or other securing devices with both coarse and fine adjustment are advantageous in securing a workpiece. However, prior art devices may not include a convenient method or apparatus for coarse and fine adjustment.
Joints are typically formed with workpieces either at right angles, as in dovetail joints, or parallel, as in some mortise and tenon joints. If a craftsperson desires to form a joint at some other angle, the craftsperson may be forced to hand form the joint or purchase/construct a separate jig to accommodate the desired angle.
Dust and debris generated by operation of a router may get caught between the router sub-base plate and the template or may find their way into various other portions of the router or jig. The user may need to halt operations and spend non-productive time removing the dust and debris.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a jig apparatus configured for efficient, intuitive set-up. It would also be advantageous to provide a jig apparatus capable of accurately forming a variety of quality joints at various angles and offsets without the drawbacks experienced in the prior art.